Humane groups sue to protect wolves

UPDATED 5:57 PM CST Feb 12, 2013

MILWAUKEE -

The Humane Society of the United States and other animal welfare groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday to restore federal protections for gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region that were lifted last year.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its parent agency, the U.S. Department of the Interior, said the decision to take wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan off the endangered list threatens the animals' recovery throughout most of their historic range. At one time, the animals roamed nearly all of North America.

Hunters and trappers in Minnesota and Wisconsin killed 530 wolves combined during those states' recently concluded seasons -- 413 in Minnesota and 117 in Wisconsin. The Michigan Legislature voted in December to authorize wolf hunting, which could resume as early as this fall if the state's Natural Resources Commission approves.

"In the short time since federal protections have been removed, trophy hunters and trappers have killed hundreds of Great Lakes wolves under hostile state management programs that encourage dramatic reductions in wolf populations," Jonathan Lovvorn, chief counsel for animal protection litigation at the HSUS, said in a statement. "This decision rolls back the only line of defense for wolf populations, and paves the way for the same state-sponsored eradication policies that pushed this species to the brink of extinction in the first place."

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Secretary Cathy Stepp said wolf management authority needs to remain with the state, and removing that authority would not benefit citizens or wolves.

"This (lawsuit) has the potential to halt wolf hunting in Wisconsin and leave the state powerless to effectively address livestock depredations, and would end the state's ability to actively manage our wolf population," Stepp said in a statement.

Stepp said Wisconsin's wolf management plan fosters a healthy wolf population while seeking social balance as wolf depredations continue to rise.

"The Wisconsin Wildlife Federation believes that the position of the Humane Society of the United States is not based on good science," said George Meyer, executive director of the federation, which supports the wolf hunt.

Meyer said Wisconsin's wolf management plan has a goal of 350 wolves.

"At a minimum, the Wisconsin wolf population is two times larger than that. The state harvest this year was 117, and that's clearly within the capacity of the wolf population to be sustainable, and substantially over the goal of 350," Meyer said.

But some wolf advocates welcomed the lawsuit.

"We have never really felt enough scientific research was done" to justify the hunt in Wisconsin, said Nancy Jo Dowler, president of the Timber Wolf Preservation Society, which keeps four wolves at its site in Greendale, Wis.

Dowler said wolves help keep the deer herd healthy by killing off old or sick deer, and help prevent deer overbrowsing of the land. "We don't feel the ecological benefit of the wolf was looked at, at all," she said.

Wolves are an emotional topic, she added.

"There are people who absolutely love them and people who absolutely hate them, and we believe we can co-exist with them," Dowler said.

Other plaintiffs in the HSUS lawsuit include Born Free USA, Help Our Wolves Live and Friends of Animals and Their Environment.

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